DATE: 08/23/2007 16:30:18 / MOOD: feel like wheelin

All-J Products and their Boulder Bar Rock Sliders 

Hi my name is Al, former owner of Jeepin by Al, (www.jeepinbyal.com) a web based Jeep Liberty specialty part shop.   As an extra curricular activity, Jeepin by Al, LLC was interfering with my real profession as a Licensed Professional Civil Engineer, therefore with a heavy heart I sold the company.  However, even with “leaving the industry”, I have managed to retain my excellent relationship with All-J.   I have been dealing with All-J (boulderbars.com) for over three years now.  I have installed several of their Liberty Frankenlift kits, sold a few, and supplied my custom Liberty upper a-arms to them for their customers.  In addition, I installed several of their Boulder Bars rock sliders.  Heather and Quinn, the owners of the owners of All-J, supply unsurpassed customer service and products.  While developing my 6-inch Liberty lift, I used their Frankenlift as a building block.  

I have been so impressed with their Boulder Bar line, one of the first items I purchased for my new 2006 Rubicon was a set of 2-inch by 3-inch Boulder Bars, which serve a dual purpose, one being a rock slider protector of my rockers, the other as running board!   When one thinks of safety and protection for their vehicle, one should think Boulder Bars. 

Why………..Mike Moore outfitted his Jeep Wrangler, he affectionately called Monster TJ, with Boulder Bars shortly after it was lifted and at the same time as the skid plates and other off-road protection was installed. For almost 2 1/2 years the Boulder Bars protected the Monster while traversing the Rubicon, the Dusy-Ershim and numerous other off-road adventures.On the evening of March 10 Monster TJ was assaulted by a Dodge Dakota pick-up. Sadly, the Monster did not survive but the Boulder Bars rose to the occasion and helped to save the occupants. As the truck hit the side of the Monster, the firewall and dash were broken from the impact. The driver’s door was pushed in 10 to 14 inches and the entire body of the vehicle was pushed 6 to 8 inches off-center from the frame. The only thing that stopped the truck from coming completely through the vehicle was the Boulder Bars. As the bumper and body came through the side of the Jeep the tires finally met the Boulder Bars. This stopped the truck from coming any further into the passenger compartment. The Dodge then rolled monster TJ.  Mike Survived the impact as did the Boulder Bars.  Mike is currently using the same Boulder Bars on his new Jeep.

All J Products started in Garden Grove, CA.  Their first product was the Boulder Bar, and then bumpers were soon highly requested.  After several years in Garden Grove, they moved to Riverside, CA.  After five or so years in a small Riverside shop, they were able to move into a larger shop and retail showroom in Colton, CA.  This is where All-J really took off!  After three years of continual growth, Heather and Quinn decided to once again move.  The move was predicated on the fact that four of the people who work at All J Products live in Big Bear, CA.  Now owners of the property their shop is located on they were extremely excited to have their Jeep Shop in Big Bear Lake where they live!

With customers all over the world, and large product line, including; Nth Degree, ARB, Winchline, Rancho, OME, Crane, Hidden Hitch, Reese, Currie, Daystar, FireStik Antenna Co., Hot Water Shower, BRX Hoses, Hansen Bumpers, Body Armor, IPF Off-road lights, JE Reel Driveshafts, Advanced Adapters, K&N Filters, “Jeepin’ By Al “A-Arms, JKS Manufacturing, Skid Row Products, Kilby Enterprises, Mopar, HiLift, Poison Spyder Customs, Rock Hard 4x4 Parts, Rubicon Express, Spicer Drivetrain parts, Staun Deflators, Superlift, T&J Performance, Goodyear, BFG, Mickey Thompson, Rims of all brands, Champion Wheel Beadlocks, Tuffy Products, TruTrac, Vanco Brake System Upgrade, Walker Evans Products, Warn Enterprises, Wood-Ease Hand Cleaner, Hella Lights,  GPS and CB systems, CHD Motorsports Shift Knobs, Century Wheel and Rim, Bilstein, Best-Top, Adventure Trailers’ Fuel and Water Can Holder Kits, and MANY MORE accessories, Heather and Quinn have not forgotten their customers nor their roots.

Installation of the 2-inch by 3-inch Boulder Bars on my 2006 Rubicon

Please read the supplied directions!  The Boulder Bar unit is supported by three “legs” that attach to your TJ chassis with a series of self tapping bolts and two nutserts and bolts.  The nutserts are placed into the existing holes within the chassis. 

You can than temporary install the Boulder Bar by hanging the unit from the two from the two nutserts with the supplied bolts.  Once the Boulder Bar is in place make, sure it is level with the body.  You can now mark off the positions where you need to drill the holes for the self-taping bolts by utilizing the mounting holes located on the leg plates.  You will need to drill two holes for the center support leg, four for the front support leg and three for the rear support leg.  I went one step further and found a tap that matched the self taping bolts as close as possible and I threaded the bolt holes to make the self taping process go much smoother.

After the holes are drilled and tapped, I installed the Boulder Bar.  I used some red “lock-tite” to insure that the bars stay in place.

 

I just wish I was able to insert the pictures!  Shop Address:All J Products41610 Brownie LaneBig Bear Lake, CA 92315 Mailing Address:All J ProductsPO BOX 1888Big Bear Lake, CA 92315-1888Phone:(909) 866-4800      

 

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DATE: 04/20/2007 07:49:41 / MOOD: full of life

 For many years Ben Stein has written a biweekly column called "Monday Night At Morton's." (Morton's is a famous chain of Steakhouses known to be frequented by movie stars and famous people from around the globe.) Now, Ben is terminating the column to move on to other things in his life.Reading his final column is worth a few minutes of your time. Ben Stein's Last Column...How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World? As I begin to write this, I "slug" it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is "eonlineFINAL," and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started. I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end. It worked well for a long time, but gradually, my changing as a person and the world's change have overtaken it. On a small scale, Morton's, while better than ever, no longer attracts as many stars as it used to. It still brings in the rich people in droves and definitely some stars. I saw Samuel L Jackson there a few days ago, and we had a nice visit, and right before that, I saw and had a splendid talk with Warren Beatty in an elevator, in which we agreed that Splendor in the Grass was a super movie. But Morton's is not the star galaxy it once was, though it probably will be again.  Beyond that, a bigger change has happened. I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to. How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a "star" we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails. They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit, Iraq. He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world. A real star is the U.S. soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad. He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him. A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordnance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad. The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists. We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die. I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton's is a big subject. There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament...the policemen and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children; the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards. Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of a real hero. I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters. This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin...or Martin Mull or Fred Willard--or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them. But I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). I cared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma and then entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms. This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiers in Iraq or the firefighters in New York. I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human.  Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will.By Ben Stein

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DATE: 04/18/2007 23:14:53 / MOOD: full of life

Believe it or not, I was had the honor and headache of being a Mayor. The local VFW asked me to give the speech at the Memorial Day Parade, and service at the local cemetery. It was a beautiful day, and after placing a wreath on a WW I veteran's grave I gave the following speech:

Bumper stickers, they are as varied as the vehicles they are placed on and their people who display them.

The one bumper sticker I think of most on this day is God, Guts and guns made America free.

God, Guts and Guns made America free.

Some see this as the mantra of the ill informed, or the battle cry of the NRA,

I see it as a truth.

God,

God has blessed this great nation since its inception; he was with our fore fathers during the revolutionary war, as he is with us now in our conflict in the Middle East.

God has stood shoulder to shoulder next to our armed forces since the beginning and through all the sacrifices, they have made. God has brought all our men and women home, either to himself or to the individual’s loving family.

Without God we would not have this great nation nor would we have the men and women of our armed forces.

God, Guts and Guns made America free!

Guts,

Guts, is the internal fortitude, bravery, and the drive that each of the men and women who sacrificed their time, and their lives, to protect us and our way of life.

Each one of these individuals standing here and the ones that that have went before them has had the internal fortitude, bravery and drive to heed the call of their nation, and perform the tasks asked of them during the time of war. They had the guts to leave the comfort of their families and homes. They had the guts to withstand over whelming odds and win. They had the guts to come home and rebuild their lives among us.

Today, our young men and women have heeded their call, and they have shown us that they to have the same internal fortitude, the bravery, and the drive to be Americas best.

Without God, our armed forces and America’s citizens would not have the guts to perform and survive as well as we do.

God, Guts and Guns made America free!

Guns

Guns are just one of many tools used during the time of war. To me I equate the word guns with the technology that has been developed over the years that keep our forces safe, give our forces an advantage, and has made us the most powerful military force in the world.

This technology has also made our lives more comfortable, giving us warm homes, fast transportation, and a standard of living envied by the nations around us.

Without God or guts, the gun, or technology would not possible. We needed God to inspire us, we need our guts to experiment and develop new and greater technologies.

God, Guts and Guns made America Free.

Without any of the three, we would not be free. If it were not for the love of God, his blessings and his patience, we would not have the other two.

So next time you see one of these bumper stickers, think of the men and women who served this great nation, think of their families, and think of what would have happen if we as a nation did not God, Guts or Guns.

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DATE: 04/17/2007 21:47:46 / MOOD: feel like wheelin

Well...today 04/17/07....sitting in front of the Jeepin' Al garage (mecca for many LOST members and other Jeepers) was my custom Old Man Emu lift kit for Ruby!  You say "what's so custom?".....ZJ V8 springs for the front with LJ springs for the back, these bad boys will not sag under the weight of the ARB and winch, and the heavy back bumper.    Should give me just about 2.75 inches in lift, just what I wanted, not too tall--not too short (best Monty Python voice)

 

It may take a couple of weeks for me to get around installing it.  Work, is always getting in the way!!!! 

 

Install pictures will follow!!

 

Al 

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DATE: 04/07/2007 21:17:20 / MOOD: full of life

1. Thou shalt not misuse the name of Jeep.
2. Thou shalt not steal any Jeep.
3. Thou shalt not murder on a Jeep Jamboree, or any other time.
4. Thou shall respect the land and the animals, for they are what make offroad exciting.
5. Thou shall covet other Jeeps with respect, for they are family.
6. Respect your Father, Mother, and Neighbor, for they one day may own a Jeep, should you want to drive it.
7. Thou shalt not give false testimony against Jeep, especially while telling a fish story.
8. Thou shalt not commit sale to another, without respect towards Jeep.
9. Thou shalt not purposely harm your Jeep vehicle, or your Neighbors Jeep.
10. Thou shall idol Jeep, for it was given to rejoice.

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DATE: 04/07/2007 21:14:15 / MOOD: feel like wheelin



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DATE: 04/07/2007 21:07:18 / MOOD: feel like wheelin

O Lord, Keep my path crooked, my way narrow! Let my route be rocky And my trail hard! And through it all, bring me home to you. Let the mud be deep, and the creek high. Let the ruts be wide and the obstacles tall. For why have a Jeep, if all roads are paved? But give me a tree for my winch when tires spin. And a hard place for my Hi Lift when rails scrape. And through it all, bring me home to you. For where I Jeep is much like me. My soul takes a line that leads me astray. And my life gets stuck such that I can't get free. My jeep can be fixed but for me there's no shop, No mechanic to adjust, no warranty to claim. And through it all, bring me home to you. So give me a Savior to unstuck my soul, For my ruts are sin, my ways are wrong. My winch can pull my Jeep from the ditch, But the pit that awaits, who can defeat? So give a Savior who conquered the grave! And through it all, bring me home to you.

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DATE: 04/07/2007 20:57:25 / MOOD: feel like wheelin

My utter infatuation with the little Jeep started at a very young age, while glued to my parents black and white television watching the “Rat Patrol”.  There was nothing more glorious than envisioning myself with Christopher George flying over the dunes in a flat fendered Jeep as appeared in the opening credits.  As a side note, I have the DVD’s today.  From that very first episode, I was hooked on the vehicle known as the JEEP!  I fantasized that one day I would own a Jeep, and along with my dog, we would have jeeping adventures everyday.

 

As I grew, I built models of the Jeep and became a true motor-head watching drag races, NASCAR, attending auto shows.  Before I was able to drive I pretended that both my bicycle and motorcycle was a Jeep, trail riding through Central and South America with Mark Smith and his group of CJ’s, or crossing the Rubicon trail.  At 16, I received my first car from my cousin, a high mileage 1966 VW Beetle.  I cut it up, put bigger tires on it and took it out on the trails.  Deep down, I still wanted a Jeep.  After the VW, I approached my parents with the idea of buying a Jeep.  My motorcycle accident fresh her mind, my mother wanted me in something with doors.  NO was the answer.  However, in 1980, I was able to purchase a Jeep, not a CJ but a 1976 Jeep Wagoneer.  It remained stock for about a month, out came the saber saw, in went a sun roof, from there I added leafs to the leaf springs (3 inch lift), 32 inch tires on 8 inch white wagon wheel rims, hitches, homemade skid plates, stereo equipment, captain chairs, and modified the 360 cubic inch. motor.  Growing up on Long Island NY, there was really only one place one could “off-road” legally, and that was the southern barrier beaches.  The Jeep, my then girlfriend-now my wife, and I would travel the beach almost every weekend, summer and winter.  I loved that Wagoneer, but I still wanted a true Jeep, just like the one I grew up watching on the Rat Patrol.

 

With marriage, family, and responsibilities of a “grown-up” the Wagoneer was put aside, after almost 200,000 miles and rising repair costs out pacing the family budget.  Years passed, but the thought of Jeeping adventure never waned.  Shortly after September 11, 2001, I felt compelled to simplify my life, so I sold several of my vehicles and turned once more to a Jeep for comfort and transportation; this time I chose a Liberty, with visions of my old Wagoneer wheeling in my head.  I could not keep my hands off this new Jeep.  In a period of three years I had one of the most modified Libertys in the country.  Custom 5.5-inch lift, 33-inch tires, reinforced just about every chassis section and built it for off road adventures I dreamed of as a kid.  We attended four Camp Jeeps, several Jeep Jamborees, just about every Jeep show on the east coast, and enjoyed trail rides from Virginia to Maine.  Never once did the Jeep leave me on the trail side, or road side.  The Liberty won several first place trophies, several second place trophies, as well as two third place trophies at the shows we entered.  Not bad for a daily driver and trail vehicle.  Sadly, both the Liberty and its owner have gotten too old to continue together, both on the paths of the local off-road parks and in the garage on the path of developing custom parts.  After 90,000 miles, and great time, I will be passing my much beloved Liberty on to my son.  To share some of the innovations I developed for the Liberty I started my own very own after-market, internet Jeep parts store.  www.jeepinbyal.com  

 

Finally, after waiting over 40 years I have fulfilled my dream by purchasing a new 2006 Rubicon.  The Rubicon model of the now TJ version of the original Jeep is the pinnacle of 65 years of factory Jeep production.  This factory ready off road vehicle will not remain unmolested; soon a moderate lift will be installed, 33-inch tires, and host of other goodies will appear making it a formidable trail ride.  It will have everything I dreamed of, except the 50 caliber machine gun! 

 

I have influenced as many people as I could into buying a Jeep vehicle, my wife has a Grand Cherokee, as does my former Administrative Assistant, Head of Drafting, and my mother.  My son has an old CJ.  Both my offices are decorated with Jeep memorabilia, I sit on Jeep office chairs, my six car garage/work shop is decorated with Jeep and off-road memorabilia, as is my bedroom.  I do not know how my wife puts up with me, but we have a Jeep comforter on our bed, and the walls are adorned with pictures of us on our off road adventures with our Jeeps.  One particular picture we favor is our picture of the American Flag made up of red, white and blue Jeeps at Camp Jeep 2005.  Both of our Jeeps are in that picture, and that day I was a true star!  My library consists of dozens of books, and now DVD’s on the Jeep and its history.  We even have a Jeep UBS computer storage chips.  We have Jeep gym bags, Jeep Camera Cases, Jeep clothes, Jeep Sunglasses, and Jeep mugs and glasses.  Even our Boxer, Otto has a Jeep leash and collar. 

 

Fanatic (noun): Defined as somebody who has extreme and sometimes irrational enthusiasms and beliefs.

Jeep Fanatic (noun): Defined as somebody who has extreme and sometimes irrational enthusiasms and beliefs in Jeeps………me!.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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